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Fiber Optic Damage Prevention System Tested at PSE&G

Several forms of mechanized construction equipment were used at varying distances from the fiber optic sensing cable to determine alarm levels and false alarm rate.

Fiber Optic Damage Prevention System Tested at PSE&G

NYSEARCH has been working since the early 2000s in developing and evaluating proactive damage prevention monitoring systems. It has worked with contractors and commercial companies, primarily engaged in security monitoring, to determine whether point sensors as well as distributed sensors, such as fiber optic cable, can be used in a practical and economical fashion to accurately monitor for threatening activity near gas pipelines in both transmission and distribution applications.

Given prior work with a variety of damage prevention technologies and ongoing work testing a range of sensing technologies, NYSEARCH funders continued their joint work on a lower cost, more efficient fiber optic approach from Fiber SenSys, to determine whether it meets gas industry needs. A second round of testing was completed at a right-of-way test site in PSE&G'S service territory in Woodbridge NJ where there are many forms of noise, interference and other benign signals. During the summer 2013 tests, several forms of mechanized construction equipment were used at varying distances from the fiber optic sensing cable to determine alarm levels and false alarm rate. One example of the type of test is shown in the picture with a directional drilling tool that was deployed both parallel and perpendicular to the installed fiber optic cable in wet soil conditions. During the recent tests, improvements were demonstrated in the system’s detection and third party threat detection discrimination capabilities.